CA, US & World
Fat Bear Week Returns With More Bears, Votes and a Familiar Champion
Forget March Madness. The September showdown is back.
Fat Bear Week is entering its 12th year at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, where brown bears spend the summer loading up on salmon before heading into winter hibernation.
The 2026 bracket will be revealed Friday, Sept. 18, with public voting scheduled to begin Tuesday, Sept. 22. The tournament runs through Sept. 29, when this year’s champion will be crowned.
Fat Bear Week began in 2014 as a one-day competition and has grown into an international event. More than 1.7 million votes were cast from more than 100 countries last year, when Bear 32, nicknamed “Chunk,” won the championship.
The bears gather along the Brooks River, where they take advantage of an abundant supply of salmon. The food helps them build the fat reserves they need to survive the winter.
“Fat Bear Week is an opportunity for us to not only tell the stories of the bears and what they need to do to survive, but also to help share with the world this remarkable place,” a Katmai official said.
The difference in the bears’ appearance from early summer to fall can be dramatic. Large bears can gain several hundred pounds of fat before entering their winter dens, according to the National Park Service.
There is no dieting during Fat Bear Week. The bears’ success at finding food — and the weight they put on — is part of what makes the competition possible.
One bear getting plenty of attention again this year is 32 “Chunk,” the reigning champion. The National Park Service says Chunk returned to Brooks River in 2025 with a broken jaw, but the injury healed and did not prevent him from successfully eating and gaining enough weight to survive winter.
Park officials say Chunk has returned this September looking well-fed, although he was not seen as frequently earlier in the summer.
Mike Fitz, who was a park ranger when the competition began, has also remained closely associated with Fat Bear Week. What started with roughly 1,700 votes in 2014 has become a worldwide celebration of Katmai’s bears.
The event also gives viewers a closer look at individual bears and the ecosystem supporting them. Live cameras allow people around the world to watch the bears along the Brooks River.
This year, the National Park Service says there are more bear cubs at Brooks Camp than have been seen in a long time.
Fat Bear Week voting runs Sept. 22-29, with no voting on the weekend. The public can follow the competition and watch the bears through live cams at Explore.org.
Explore: NBCPalmSprings.com, where we are connecting the Valley.
By: NBC Palm Springs
September 18, 2026
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